Literature /
Domina

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Domina is a novel (originally a web novel published on wordpress) about the title city. The plot revolves around Adam Anders, a newcomer to the city, and his roommate, Derek Huntsman. The first few chapters are just Worldbuilding, setting up the background of the city. But soon enough, things start going in unexpected directions. Derek discovers he has powers, and several of his close friends do as well. Then it turns out that there are super-powered zombies attacking the city, and a gang lord asks them to save it.

One of the biggest things that makes the city of Domina unique is its use of the toy maker, a Bio-Augmentation device. People can use it to remake themselves however they like, and entire cultures have formed based on vampires, demons, and angels. The city's harsh nature means that most of these cultures spend their time killing each other, but the political balance is being upset by the arrival of the screamers.

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The story finished in October of 2017 at 335 chapters. It was later published in book form, with two novels so far:

The City of Monsters (February 2020)

The Composer of Screams (April 2020)

This web-novel shows examples of:

Action Girl: Akane carries around a real katana, which she apparently uses in kendo.

Every character's first POV chapter starts with "My name is ___" and a few short facts about themselves. The Composer is the sole exception, which means we don't know their name, gender, or anything else other than that they like killing.

In the rewrite, while the chapters are no longer first person, the Composer's POV chapters are still carefully worded to avoid any pronouns that might imply they have an identity besides killing.

Alternate History: Combined with the 20 Minutes into the Future setting can make it hard to tell sometimes. However, in chapter 233 Silk mentions a Second Space Race. The series actually takes place in 2001. It's been an Alternate Timeline since 1970, when Silk arrived and started changing things, most notably causing the creation of Domina City.

There are many mentions of loudspeakers being installed in the background before the Composer is revealed to have a system of speakers, separate from MC's, that she can use to zombify the entire city at once.

MC, Lily, and Robyn all mention their sisters a few times before the reveal that they consider each other sisters.

Speaking of MC, in dialogue she is often mentioned as pausing "as if taking a deep breath;" as an AI, of course she can't actually breathe.

I Am X, Son of Y: Akane's chapter starts with "My name is Akane Akiyama. Daughter of Akio, son of Yoshrou. I am the last of the honorable samurai house Akiyama, founded in the first days of the Edo period."

The Masquerade: Actually averted. One of the first things that happens after the screamers are discovered is Butler goes on TV, explains the situation, and asks the public not to panic.

There is still a masquerade in effect to the outside world, however. This is largely through the efforts of such parties as Necessarius limiting the flow of information to and from the outside world. The cultures are played off as loony yet harmless cosplayers, and the toymaker is treated as 'that military buff machine'.

Mass Empowering Event: Also known as The Rampage, after the Composer is defeated and the city is reverted to normal, everyone who had become a screamer is now empowered, like the Paladins and Blackguards.

The Milky Way Is the Only Way: Humanity hasn't even left the Solar System yet. However, it is still averted by Silk when she mentions traveling to Andromeda when first arriving in the timeline of the story.

Mind Rape: In the backstory, Malcanthet, the "Queen of the Succubi," used mundane rape to break people and turn them into her slaves. She was driven out of the city before the story started. By Lily, no less.

Our Zombies Are Different: Not undead, fast, and they never stop screaming (hence the name "screamers"). Any body fluid is infectious. Oh, and they have super powers.

Penal Colony: What Domina City started out as, but with white collar criminals providing the population. There is a brief mention of a lunar colony which failed due to a prisoner revolt, although it is unclear whether it was also a penal colony. Referred to as the Reiner Gamma Crisis, it lent its name to one of Domina City's Crisis line of weapons: the Crisis 04181976. The revolt took place in 1976, helping to further establish the Alternate History.

Point of View: The web-novel was first-person with a rotating narrator, but when republished the novels were third-person.

The Rant: A "Behind the Scenes" section at the bottom of each chapter.

Reasonable Authority Figure: Artemis Butler, despite being a gang lord. The second he discovers a threat to the city, he works to stop it, including recruiting college kids (who happen to be immune to the zombie virus).

The Social Darwinist: An attitude held by many citizens of Domina, and championed by the Kongeegen party. They aren't the scariest party, however. That is held by the Granit party, who are jonesing to conquer the world (and have made invasion plans repeatedly; however, none have passed both the House and Senate).

The angel Archsaints are named after the Dungeons & Dragons Celestial Hebdomad. Likewise, the demon Powers are named after the demon princes, and the vampire Nobles after the Archdevils. Lesser warlords and honored are named after lesser saints and gods.

The giants are named after the Norse gods and titans, with some related famous monsters thrown in. Ogres tend to be named after WarCraft ogres, such as Gruul the Dragonkiller.

The dragons are named after the dragon-gods of Dungeons & Dragons. Even their subcultures are based on some of the dragon-specific prestige classes from The Draconimicon.

The Atlantean cities are named after Greek philosophers, the Dagonite towns are named after famous writers, and the Rahab wrecks are named after emperors.

Time Abyss: The Composer has been in action for a long time. Her sister Silk claims to be well over two trillion years old.

We ARE Struggling Together: There's a lot of bad blood between the various gangs and cultures, and they have shown various amounts of unity when it comes to outside threats. One of the characters says it best: "this is the same city where people were perfectly willing to fight a civil war while a zombie apocalypse dropped on their heads".

Wham Line: Derek plotted out when the screamer attacks occurred, and found that there was a pattern. More importantly however, it meant that not only does the Composer know who they are, he's close enough to know their schedules.

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